For the upcoming 2024 presidential election, Joe Maldonado [Exotic] wishes to “Make America Exotic.” Maldonado rose to fame from the hit show Tiger King, which garnered tens of millions of viewers in the first week alone. Following this were revelations that ended with his jail sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin along with the murders of his own tigers.
Since then, he has announced that he will be running for president from prison as a representative for the libertarian party. He announced he would be running on March 10, 2023 via Twitter. People roared with differing views: some in confusion and others in disapproval.
Maldonado’s plans if he were to become president are to pardon “every person that’s in federal prison on conspiracy charges that never got caught with drugs” (Aubrie Spady). Additionally, Maldonado has been selling merchandise to, “help him break the chains of government corruption and greed that hold our citizens captive and give the rights back to the people, where they belong” (Aubrie Spady).
Many may believe that profiting off of merchandise geared towards his election is a strategic move to bail him out, and have a president who is not running the country in a cell. Due to the distasteful creativity of his merchandise, many may not consider [Exotic] as a serious candidate through the presidential election. Maldonado has a campaign bundle for 20 dollars only, which includes not only an ombre t-shirt with his face on it but also a bracelet and bumper sticker.
Other candidates running in the 2024 presidential election, such as Joe Biden and Donald Trump, have goals centered around a larger demographic while Exotic’s main focus is to pardon criminals. Biden’s 2024 campaign is centered around lowering healthcare costs, cutting taxes for families with children and American workers, and overall making the quality of living in the U.S. better. Trump’s 2024 campaign focuses on building 10 cities, dedicated to giving those living without homes tents for shelter, toughening up laws for teenagers who break them, and strengthening his initial goals from his 2016 election.
Many view Maldonado’s presidential run as a joke and not something that has a future or ability to be pursued. This may be due to the poor representation of his goals and budgeted campaign. Citizens may also not vote for him, due to the fact that his reputation includes murder charges, and how he might run the country through his jail cell.